Eviction Help for Landlords

If you’re a landlord who needs to
evict a tenant, chances are that you’ll need some professional legal help. Here’s
why:

Details.
In most states an eviction lawsuit (also known as an unlawful detainer) is full
of many small, picky steps that must be accomplished correctly before the case
can move on. If you make a mistake, you start over (or, worse, the tenant wins
on a procedural error). There’s a reason for this: These cases move very
quickly through the courts, much faster than regular civil trials like, for
instance, personal injury lawsuits. The tradeoff for speed is a very controlled
process.

The stakes.
An eviction lawsuit seeks to take someone out of their home—in many ways, it’s
much more serious than a squabble about money. No matter how justified the
landlord may be, most judges look long and hard at whether the process was done
right.

The
setting. In most states, eviction lawsuits are heard in regular trial
court, where the rules of evidence and pleading procedures are set up for
lawyers to navigate. Unlike small claims court, where procedures are informal
and where non-lawyers fare just fine, trial court is strict. If your experience
is with small claims, you’re in for a culture shock when you get to trial
court.

Prepare Your Case

There’s a lot you can do to make your lawyer’s work efficient and successful.
The following steps will give your lawyer the information he or she needs to
evaluate the case and prepare.

The
tenant’s file: general information. Hopefully, you’ve kept copies of
essential papers for this tenancy, such as the lease and application. (Sensitive
personal information, like the credit report, should have been discarded, in
keeping with the federal Disposal Rule, a federal law that requires landlords
and employers to safely discard sensitive personal information when it’s no
longer needed.)

Copies of
past rules, rent violations. If you’ve had to “write up” your tenant, and
if you’ve sent “pay or quit” or “cure or quit” notices, be sure to gather
those.

Your
notes. Careful landlords make a note of repair requests, complaints from
other tenants or neighbors, and so on, including any police or incident reports.
Bring these along; let your lawyer decide whether they’re relevant.

If you are a member of a landlord’s group or association,
you might check with other members for advice (or sympathy). People who have
gone through an eviction lawsuit, though not as battle-scarred as those who
have weathered a divorce, may have hard-won advice that you’ll appreciate.

Before and During the Trial

Once you have legal counsel, you can step back and let the lawyer
handle the problem. After all, that’s part of what you’re paying for. Resist
any temptation to argue or initiate negotiations with your tenant. Doing so
without your lawyer’s guidance risks compromising your case, in ways you may
not be aware of.

If you have contact with your tenant, do your best to remain above
the fray, which may be difficult if the tenant lives on the same property. Unpleasant
exchanges can escalate and could weaken your case. Remember, in court you want
to be the picture of an evenhanded, deliberate businessperson, who does not
react emotionally.

Lockouts and Property Seizure

No matter how egregious the tenant’s behavior, landlords are never
legally justified in resorting to “self-help” measures, taken to pressure the
tenant to leave on his own. These illegal tactics include:

Lockouts.
You can’t change the locks, or remove the doors or windows.

Property
seizure. Entering and seizing the tenant’s property, whether to keep it to compensate
you for lost rent or damage, or putting it on the street to send a
not-too-subtle message, are also illegal.

Landlords who engage in illegal self-help measures face
fines and, in some states, directives that the tenant be allowed to remain on
the property.

California Landlords

We know of only one book, The
California Landlord’s Law Book: Evictions, which landlords can use
themselves to prepare and handle an eviction (if such books exist for other
states, we are unaware of them). Many California landlords have found this book
to be entirely sufficient, with its many forms and instructions for completing
them and following California’s detailed steps. If you want to save yourself
several thousands of dollars and you’re prepared to do a little work, check out
this book. Note that it cannot be used for rental property outside California.